Flexible hose automatic winding device

ABSTRACT

An automatic winding or retracting device for the flexible hose of a gasoline or other petroleum product supply unit. The device comprises a drum for the flexible hose, the drum being connected to a pulley on which is wound a cable connected to a tensioning mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many gasoline and other petroleum product delivery units orpumps, adapted to being used by motorists without the assistance of anyparticular personnel. It has been found that many individuals arecareless in the manner in which they utilize the delivery units placedat their disposal in the so-called "self-service" filling stations, andparticularly that they leave a substantial length of the flexible hoselying on the ground both when they fill up the fuel tank of theirvehicle and when they return the delivery nozzle, provided on the end ofthe flexible hose, to its storage space.

Flexible hoses lying in this way on the ground wear out quickly. Itoften happens that vehicles run over them and they are an obstacle forunobservant predestrains, such that they have been often the source ofaccidents.

For remedying such disadvantages, various solutions have been proposed;particularly, it has been proposed to mount along the delivery unit orpump a flexible rod formed at its top with a loop holding the flexiblehose. During use, the rod is caused to flex and then supports the hoseso as to prevent it from touching the ground.

Installations have also been proposed with the hose hanging down from asuspended support and supported by rubber extensible cords of the"sandow" type. This latter arrangement requires that a very importantlength of flexible hose be used, thereby increasing the cost of theinstallation. Likewise, the delivery units or pumps are rather difficultof access and the fuel delivery pipes are of course very complex.

The efficiency of the flexible rod devices is limited since the rodsoften break.

The present invention obviates those various disadvantages by providinga new mechanism enabling to use only a short length of flexible hosestored inside the housing of the delivery unit itself, and, moreover,the device of the invention is such that a heavy traction need not beexerted on the hose when the delivery nozzle is used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, the flexible hose automatic windingdevice comprises a winding drum for the flexible hose, said drumcomprising a tubular shaft with a rotary gasket connected to a supplypipe for the liquid to be dispensed through the flexible hose, the drumbeing connected to a mechanism biasing it into rotation in the directionin which the flexible hose is wound, the torque exerted by the drum onthe flexible hose keeping it under a tension which is just sufficientfor the flexible hose not to come in contact with the ground.

Various other features of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated as non-limitative examplesin the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a structural example of aflexible hose automatic winding device according to the invention incombination with a gasoline delivery pump;

FIG. 1a is a schematic illustration of a detail of the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a detail of the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the drum of the winding device ofFIGS. 1-2; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views similar to FIG. 1 and showingalternative modifications thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 generally designates a pump orsupply unit for gasoline or any other petroleum product within which ismounted a pumping and metering assembly 2. The assembly 2 comprises anelectrical motor 3 driving a pumping mechanism 4, and a delivery pipe 5which is connected to the winding unit 6 of the invention. A flexiblehose 7 provided with a delivery nozzle 8 is attached to the winding unit6.

The winding unit 6 as such comprises a drum assembly 9 comprising apulley sheave 11 on which is wound the flexible hose 7 whose end, notshown, is provided with a threaded coupling normally connected to athreaded fitting 10 (FIG. 3). The fitting 10 is disposed inside ahousing formed by the hub of the pulley sheave 11 which is fastened tothe drum assembly 9 through a disc 12 for rotation therewith.

The fitting 10 is formed on the outside of a tubular shaft 13 rotatablymounted in a bearing 14 which is in turn supported by a hub 15. It isadvantageous that the bearing 14 be of the ball-bearing type, or of theneedle-bearing type, so that the drum assembly 9 may rotate very freelyrelative to the support hub 15. The fitting 15 places the flexible hose7 in fluid communication with the interior 13a of the tubular shaft 13as shown at 10a.

A rotary sealing gasket 16 is provided between the tubular shaft 13 andthe hub 15, the end of the hub 15 forming a flange 17 connected to thedelivery pipe 5, FIG. 1.

The drum disc 12 supports on its other side a cylindrical pulley 18around which is wound a cable 19. The direction of winding of the cable19 is opposite to that of the flexible hose 7.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the drum assembly 9 is arrangedhorizontally above the supply unit 2 and the cable 19 is guided by apulley 20 towards a traction mechanism 21.

The traction mechanism 21 may be made according to various differentways and may comprise a balancing mechanism comprising an adjustabletension spring and a connecting cable mounted on a rotatable hub, or asimple spiral calibrated spring affixed at one end to a pulley and atthe other end to a fixed point. The mechanism 21 may also consist, asshown schematically at FIG. 1a, of an electric motor M connected to apulley P by a sliding coupling C, the electric motor M being started bya switch 8a when the hose nozzle 8 is extracted from its housing andstopped by putting the nozzle 8 back in place, thus opening the switch8a.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative structure for the winding mechanism 21comprising a counterweight 22 hung to the cable 19 via a pulley-block23. A spring 24 is provided for exerting a traction on the counterweight22. Thus, the counterweight 22 applies a constant force on the cable 19and therefore a constant torque on the drum 9 in the direction in whichthe flexible hose 7 is re-wound, and the spring 24 applies a variablecomponent which is a function of the counterweight position, thiscomponent generating a torque which increases as a longer length of thehose 7 has been unwound from the drum 9. Thus, the portion of theflexible hose 7 unwound from the drum 9 is kept under a tension which issufficient for preventing the unwound portion of the flexible hose 7from rubbing against the ground, and nevertheless the traction forcewhich must be exerted by the user of the nozzle 8 remains low.

A desirable torque depending on the length of hose 7 unwound from thedrum may also be obtained when the winding mechanism 21 comprises anelectric motor M, as shown at FIG. 1a, associated with a coupling C, orsimilar device, since it is possible to have the degree of coupling orthe rotation speed of the motor M controlled by the extent of rotationof drum 9, for example by connecting in series in the motor inputcircuit a potentiometer R whose slider is operated by a feelercontrolled by a cam or a spiral groove dependent from the drum andproviding an indication of the extent of rotation of the drum.

In the hereabove description, the drum assembly 9 has been shown in ahorizontal position. According to the invention, it is possible todispose it vertically. This arrangement is illustrated at FIG. 5 showingthe drum assembly 9 placed vertically, the cable 19 being as in FIG. 4connected to a pulley-block type mechanism 23 associated with acounterweight 22 and a spring 24. In this embodiment, the windingmechanism 21 can of course be any one of the different structuresdiscussed hereabove.

It is important that the return torque exerted by the drum assembly 9 onthe flexible hose 7 be as low as possible while remaining sufficient formaintaining the hose under an appropriate tension so that it does nottouch the ground. Consequently it is important to eliminate or reducefriction sources which would lead to an increase of the drum returntorque.

To this end, and as shown at FIG. 2, a guide 25 is placed on the path oftravel of the flexible hose 7 proximate to where it unwinds from thesheave 11 of the drum assembly 9, the guide having the shape of a socket26 through which passes the hose 7 and in which are set balls or rollers26a in rolling engagement with the peripheral surface of the hose. Thesocket 26 is in turn articulated via pins 27, one of which only is shownin the drawing, on pivoting arms 28 connected to the pump support framevia pins 29.

The drawings show that the arms 28 may occupy various positionsaccording to the hose 7 being pulled in one direction or the other by auser and the guide socket 26 can also pivot so that it remainspractically always in alignment with the hose which is guided by theballs or rollers 26a, thereby reducing friction to a minimum andmaintaining the hose in the winding plane which it has to occupy in thepulley sheave 11.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to theembodiments shown and described in detail, and many modifications may becarried out without departing from its scope as defined in the claims.

I claim:
 1. A flexible hose automatic winding device comprising awinding drum for the flexible hose, said drum having a shaft formed by atubular element connected through a rotary sealing gasket to asupply-pipe of a liquid to be dispensed by the flexible hose, andbiasing means urging said drum in rotation in the direction in which theflexible hose is wound, said biasing means exerting a torque on saiddrum maintaining the flexible hose under a tension just sufficient toprevent the flexible hose from coming in contact with the ground,wherein said biasing means comprises a pulley rigidly connected to saiddrum, a cable wound on said pulley in a direction opposite to thedirection of winding of the flexible hose, and means exerting aprogressive pulling force on the end of said cable for applying to saidpulley a progressively increasing torque as a function of the amount ofunwinding of the flexible hose from said drum.
 2. The device of claim 1wherein said means exerting a pulling force on the end of said cablecomprises a counterweight attached to the end of said cable and a pulleyblock arrangement disposed between said counterweight and said pulley,said cable being wound through said pulley block arrangement.
 3. Thedevice of claim 2 further comprising a spring exerting a pulling forceon said counterweight attached to the end of said cable.
 4. The deviceof claim 1 wherein said means exerting a pulling force on the end ofsaid cable comprises a second pulley attached to the end of said cablefor winding of said cable around said second pulley, an electric motor,switching means for starting said electric motor when the flexible hoseis removed from an inoperative position to an operative position and forstopping said motor when said flexible hose is returned to saidinoperative position, and sliding coupling means between said motor andsaid second pulley.
 5. The device of claim 4 wherein said flexible hosehas a dispensing nozzle on one end, said switching means being closedwhen said nozzle is removed from said inoperative position.
 6. Thedevice of claim 1 further comprising a friction reducing guide for theflexible hose, said guide being disposed at a predetermined positionproximate said drum in the plane of unwinding of the flexible hose. 7.The device of claim 6 wherein said guide comprises a socket throughwhich the flexible hose is passed, rolling bearing means disposed insaid socket in engagement with the flexible hose, and pivotable armmeans pivotably supporting said socket.
 8. The device of claim 1 whereinsaid drum is disposed horizontally.
 9. The device of claim 1 whereinsaid drum is disposed vertically.